U.S. Anthrax Probe Reveals New Bird Flu Mishap, Widespread Safety Lapses

[Purveyor]

Source: REUTERS

Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:19pm EDT

(Reuters) - Federal health officials on Friday disclosed a new safety breach at a high-security U.S. government laboratory involving dangerous avian flu, a lapse that came to light as they investigated the potential exposure of researchers to live anthrax bacteria.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said an internal probe found multiple failures by individual scientists and a lack of agency-wide safety policies led to the potential exposure of more than 80 lab workers to live anthrax at its Atlanta campus last month. Researchers in a high-security bioterror lab sent samples of what they thought were inactivated bacteria to colleagues in a lower-security lab, with fewer protections.

Investigators also discovered a previously unreported incident: Workers at a separate high-security CDC influenza lab sent samples containing a dangerous strain of bird flu to counterparts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in March. Mishandling avian flu could have far graver consequences than anthrax does, though no one has been found to have been infected in either case.

The two incidents represent the latest in a series of breaches at the CDC in the last decade that are drawing fresh scrutiny from Congress, including questions about the agency's ability to oversee potentially dangerous research. The CDC said its findings provide a "wake-up call" to overhaul the standards governing experiments with deadly pathogens nationwide.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/11/usa-anthrax-idUSL2N0PM20720140711

[mahannah]

1. The phrase “wake-up call” is over used to the point of being meaningless (if it ever had meaning).

[AdHocSolver]

2. Just what kind of experiments are they doing with deadly pathogens? nt

[wildbilln864]

3. That's a good damned question. n/t

[2pooped2pop]

4. too many poor people. Some will have to go.

Only the rich has a spot on this planet as climate change takes much of the land due to flooding, the oceans dying off, and Monsanto killing much of everything less, the world cannot sustain the people. Some will have to go. These diseases will be easier than just shooting us (though they would love to use their new weapons and toys) to make sure the rich have all the resources they need. They will only need a few of us regular people to clean up after them, drive them around, maintain their lawns. The rest will have to die off.

[LiberalLoner]

5. Yup.

I think there is going to be a culling of the herd soon, one way or another.

[2pooped2pop]

8. yeah, I've felt it coming for a while now. n/t

[paleotn]

6. In order to treat, vaccinate against and /or lessen ...

. the impact these pathogens may have on millions of people, it's kind of helpful to understand how they work. Without the knowledge gained by CDC, WHO, USAMRIID and others, we're back to the 17th century when dealing with pandemics.

[AdHocSolver]

7. My question was prompted from having worked in hospitals.

Having observed what goes on behind the scenes, I am more pessimistic about the medical profession preventing, curing, or mitigating the effects of any pandemics once they got started.

The lax security at these research facilities is not limited to them.

According to wikipedia:

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In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated roughly 1.7 million hospital-associated infections, from all types of microorganisms, including bacteria, combined, cause or contribute to 99,000 deaths each year.
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link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosocomial_infection

I have seen higher estimates elsewhere, and I am not surprised.